 Forward to the story of Sitka. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Rita Boutros. The Story of Sitka by Clarence Leroy Andrews. The historic outpost of the Northwest Coast, the chief factory of the Russian American Company. Forward. The panorama of Sea, Island and Mountain, which holds Sitka, Alaska as a jewel in its setting, is one of the most beautiful of those which surround the cities of the world. Toward the sea from the peninsula, on which Sitka is situated, stretches an expanse of waters, studded with forest-clad islands which break the swell of the Pacific that foams and tumbles on the outer barriers. To the westward, Mount Etchcom lifts its perfect cone, its summit truncated by the old crater whose fires have been dead for centuries. To the northward, Harbour Peak lifts its signal to mariners. The sisters, with a gleam of snow and ice among their pinnacles, lie in the distance of Indian River. To the east is the arrowhead of Mount Verstovia, the glaciers glistened beyond, and the sweep of mist-clad mountains in their softness beyond the bay to the southeast completes the circle. Radiating like the spokes of a wheel, waterways with historic memories reach out from the town. Crestoff Bay, where the early navigators cast anchor, Neva Strait commemorating the first Russian ship that visited Sitka from around the world. Katliansky Bay, on which was situated Old Sitka. Silver Bay, a Norwegian fjord transplanted to Alaska. Lysiansky Bay, named for the Russian navigator of a century ago. The inlet at Ozerskoe Redoubt and Globoko Deep Lake. The island studded way to the hot springs, each with its individual charm. The ocean with the deep rich marine tints of northern waters. The forest of blue that folds like a robe over the mountains. The mountain summits beside the glaciers clad in the exquisitely wonderful green of the Northland. All are delightful. But when the sun sinks low in the west with the long lingering twilight of the north and the soft delicate rays touch and blend with the water and islands, the mountains and sky, then, in the mystery of the evening, is the supreme beauty of the land. To those who have really known and loved Sitka, there is no place on earth to compare. There are pleasant recollections of those who have lived there. Jovial Edward de Graf and his stories at the Rostology Club. The Mills, whose hospitable home is known to every resident of the town. William Governor Morris, whose name recalls a leader of revolutionary days. Genial George Barron, who upheld every good tradition of the Navy. The gallant old soldier Matthew P. Berry. Dignified Judge Delaney, Alaska's staunchest advocate through all vicissitudes. Governor Brady, with his never-failing faith in Alaska's greatness. Captain Francis, without whom the early naval commanders thought the warships could not thread the intricate passages. Nicholas Haley, with his optimistic dreams of El Dorados. Pauline Arkangeleski, for whom the old-timers have pleasant recollections. Alonzo Austin and his mission. Captain Kilgore of the Rush. Merrill, who caught on the photograph plate the elusive spirit of the varying surroundings as only a true artist could. Catherine Delaney Abrams, whose touch and watercolor delineated the glory of the sunsets as none else could. Professor Richardson, who, for a quarter of a century, returned year after year, thousands of miles to perpetrate in paintings the exquisite tintings of glaciers and mountain. George Kostromydenov, Father Sergius, Father Metropolsky, and many others who have made a part of the quaint old town. There is a saying that whosoever comes to love the waters of the Indian River will ever after yearn for them. And it seems true, for always is that harking back to its banks with an unsatisfied longing. From prehistoric time this has been the home of the Sitka Kwan of the Tlingit people. For sixty-three years it was the scene of the chief activities of the Russian-American company, who represented the rule of the Muscovites, who, when Chicago was but a blockhouse in a sedgey swamp on the banks of a sluggish reedy river, and when San Francisco was but a mission and a presidio of sunburnt bricks, maintained in Sitka a community of busy people who were casting cannon and bells and who were building ships for commerce. In the establishment of this outpost the foundation was laid for the title of the United States to the southeastern part of Alaska, a land rich in fur and forest, in gold and copper, in marble and fish, the potential possibilities of which are not even approximately forecasted to-day. Enough to say of it that in its limits are two mines, one of which has yielded five millions of dollars in gold, and the other ranks among the richest of the mineral-producing veins of the world. Some may have an interest in the story of the quaint, quiet, beautiful village on the shore of Baranov Island. I hope this may add something to history, keeping the events of the past bright in the memory of those who love the Northland and its story, and add a little of interest and information of the present to those who come as transient visitors to a while away a few days among the myriad islands of the Sitkin archipelago. It is a link to connect the Sitka of the past, the Novo Arkangelsk of the great Russian-American company in the romantic days of the fur trade when it was the center of the vast domain of Russian America and gathered to its magazines the pelts of sea otter and fox, with the Sitka of today with its fisheries and mines. The old landmarks are fast disappearing, scarce a year passes without some monument passing away, and even their location will soon be forgotten unless some record is made for those who do not know where they stood. End of Foward Chapter 1 of the story of Sitka by Clarence Leroy Andrews This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Recording by Rita Butros Chapter 1 Discovery Sitka of the Russians a century ago was the center of trade and civilization on the northwest coast of America, the chief factory of the Russian-American company in the vast and little known land of the Russian possessions in America. The sails of ships from far off Kronstadt brought Russian cargoes. The famous clipperships of New England made it a stopping place on their way to the China seas. English traders and explorers visited it on their voyages and in it was centered the trade of a wide region. It was the chief factory of the greatest rival in the fur trade of the world, with which the honorable the Hudson's Bay Company which then was the controlling power of the English fur market had to contend. The story of Sitka goes back past the middle of the 18th century. There are Russians, Spanish, English, French and Americans who have woven each their own part of the web of the tale and the scenes have been as varied and strange as the people. July 16, 1741 a Russian ship stood into a broad harbor on the northwest coast of America. The commander, Captain Alexei Cherikov, had sailed 3,000 miles across the unknown Pacific from the shores of the Akhast Sea. Civilized eyes had never before rested on these shores and he was keen with the excitement of adventure and discovery as he dropped anchor. He sent a party ashore in the ship's longboat to explore and awaited the result. Days passed and no word or signal came so the remaining boat was sent to recall the party and it was swallowed up in the labyrinth among the Green Islands. Signals indicated that it safely landed but none returned to the ship although the orders were imperative that both boats return at once. The last boat was gone. Three weeks passed. Captain Cherikov could not reach the shore and could no longer lie at anchor so reluctantly and sadly he set his course for the far off Kamchatkin shores and sailed away from the port of missing men. Nearly two centuries have passed since the Russian seamen landed and no word has come from them. For more than 70 years the Russian government sought for some sign of their fate. Tales were told of a colony of Russians existing on the coast and each upon investigation proved but a rumour. There is a dim tradition among the Sitkas of men being lured ashore in the long ago. They say that Chief Anahuts the predecessor of the chief of that name who was the firm friend of the whites at Sitka in 1878 was the leading actor in the tragedy. Anahuts dressed himself in the skin of a bear and played along the beach so skillfully did he simulate the sinuous motions of the animal that the Russians in the excitement of the chase plunged into the woods in pursuit and there the savage warriors killed them to a man leaving none to tell the story. The disappearance of Cherukov's men has remained one of the many unsolved mysteries of the Northland and their fate will never be known to a certainty. The faulty record of the navigation of a time that counted by dead reckoning and without a knowledge of the currents of those seas does not tell us the exact location of the anchorage but beyond a reasonable doubt it was in Sitka's sound and the Russian semen died at the hands of the Sitka Kwan of the Tlingits. In this manner Sitka first became known to the white man's world. On the 16th day of August 1775 came the royal standard of Spain flung to the breeze from the little schooner Sonora only 36 feet in length under command of Don Francisco de la Bodega y Cuadra. Cuadra was one of the greatest and best of the Spanish navigators in the North. His voyages are among the most successful of those of the mariners of his nation of the North Pacific Ocean and his name was once linked with that of the English commander on the island now bearing the name of Vancouver. Cuadra came from the Mexican port of Samblas and after many thrilling adventures and grievous hardships he sailed into a broad bay and dropped anchor. There was a mountain of which he says of the most regular and beautiful form I had ever seen which was also quite detached from the great ridge of mountains. Its top was covered with snow under which appeared some gullies which continue till about the middle of the mountain and from thence to the bottom are trees of the same kind as those at Trinity. He named the mountain San Jacenthus and the point of the island that extends out toward the sea Cape de Lengano and the slopes of the mountain which stands to the seaward from Sitka can mistake the description. He anchored in what is now known as Krestov Bay about six miles northwest from Sitka and he called it Port Guadalupe. Captain Cook on his third voyage of exploration in 1778 with the ship's resolution and discovery passed along the coast to the bay of which he says an arm of this bay in the northern part of it seemed to extend in toward the north behind a round elevated mountain I called Mount Echcom and the point of land that shoots out from it Cape Echcom. This name supplanted the one given by the Spaniard and the beautiful cone is yet known by the title he bestowed. The early Russians called the mountain Saint Lazaria assuming that it was the peak seen by Cherukov on his ill-fated voyage of discovery and so named by him. The small island at the south is still known as San Lazaria Island. Captain Dixon of HMS Queen Charlotte came during the summer of 1787 on a fur trading voyage. Dixon had just departed from the harbor when Captain Portlock of the English ship King George which was lying in Portlock Harbour to the northward in Chickagov Island sent his ships boat through the passage behind a cruise off island to about the present site of Sitka and made the discovery for the civilized world that Mount Echcom is on an island. End of Chapter 1. Chapter 2 of the story of Sitka by Clarence Leroy Andrews. This Librivox recording is in the public domain. Recording by Rita Butros. Chapter 2. Settlement The sea otter, a marine animal about four feet in length when fully grown with soft long black pillage of silky texture is one of the most valued of the fur bearers. It was found abundantly all the way along the northwest coast and especially in the passages about Sitka. It is now nearly extinct. The Russians had been gathering the skins of the sea otter in the northern waters for years ever since Cherikov made his voyage to Sitka and they were truly an El Dorado in fur to the traders who plied their trade along the coast. Captain Cook and his sailors when their voyage in these waters bought skins for mere trifles some for a handful of iron nails. These same skins sold for as much as $60 each in China where they visited on their way home. The story of the furs went over the world and English, French and American traders thronged to these waters to sail their ships into the straits and barter for the rich pelts. The secure profit of $50,000 on a voyage was not unusual. Ingrum, the lieutenant of Captain Gray whom we all know so well for his discovery of the great river of the west sailed to near Sitka before his principal entered the river which he named for his ship the Columbia. The French ship Salide in 1791 sailed from France together to the portion of the harvest. Her captain Etienne Marchand anchored in Sitka Bay and called it Chin-Kitine as he declares it was known to the natives. To his ship flocked the painted and skin-clad natives with their peltries for barter. On their persons he saw articles of European manufacture showing that other ships had visited there and in the ears of one young savage were hanging pendant two copper coins of the colony of Massachusetts. His success in trade was not such as he might have wished so he sailed away remarking that the modern Hebrews would perhaps have little to teach to these people in the art of trade. March 31st 1799 the Yankee skipper Cleveland of the merchant ship Caroline sailed into the bay dropped anchor and fired and shot as a signal. He was one of those shrewd lean traders skilled in navigation who sailed from Boston round the horn with their buck-o-mates who could drive attack with the prow of a ship so to speak and in those days there were no corners of the earth where they might not be found seeking for profit. He was wise to the ways of the sharp trading canoemen of these waters and their aggressive proclivities so he prepared his ship with regard for all the possibilities of the business. Around it as a bulwark he stretched a barrier of dry bull hides brought from the California coast. At the stern was a place prepared for the trading. Forward on the deck were planted cannon, shot it with shrapnel trained so as to rake the after deck and beside each was a gunner's match. On the first day for two hundred yards of broadcloth he purchased a hundred prime sea otter skins worth fifty dollars each in Canton. Barter was going merrily on when a scream from a midship startled the crew. The tlingits sprang to their boats. The squaws backed the canoes away from the ship's sides. Arrows were fitted to bow strings. Spears were poised and baskets primed. On the ships the sailors lighted the cannon matches and stood by ready to fire. A fire was hovering in the air when the cause of the disturbance was discovered. An inquisitive tlingit pried between the bull hides opposite the cook's galley and the cook had saluted him with a ladle of hot water. In his surprise he upset his canoe and his family were struggling to escape the sea. His baby was rescued by a seaman. Amends were made to his injured feelings and the barter proceeded as before. The waters were filled with ships. In a stay of a month the Caroline spoke the ship Hancock, the ship Dispatch, the ship Ulysses and the ship Eliza all of Boston and the English ship Cheerful all trading for furs and islands. The Russians in their colony on Kodiak Island were jealous of the intruders on what they considered as their domain. Gregory Shelikov, a Siberian merchant one of the wealthiest and most far seeing of the leaders among the Aleutian Islands conceived the plan of combining the whole of the fur trade in one great monopoly. In pursuance of this policy a charter from Emperor Paul in 1799 under the name of the Russian-American company which gave the exclusive right to all profits to be derived from every form of resource in the Russian possessions in America for a period of 20 years. To the management of his business in the colony he established on Kodiak Island he appointed Alexander Andreevich Baranov a Siberian trader of great ability and experience. Baranov the wise and far-seeing Russian ruler of the Russian-American company at his factory in St. Paul's Harbour on Kodiak Island had long planned the extension of his settlements to the southeast. The sea otter catch of the Russians was made by brigades of Aleuts from the western islands who went along the shores and to sea as far as 20 miles in their wonderful skin boats called Bedarkas to hunt. When a sea otter lifted its head from the water to breathe within sight of a detachment of Aleut hunters, its fate was sealed for its seldom escaped. The passages between the islands about Sitka were called the Straits by the Russians and in them the sea otter skins were taken by the Russians. It was not unusual for a Russian hunting party consisting of a hundred Bedarkas to take on one expedition 2,000 skins of the Morsky Bobrov as they called the sea otter. The animals were becoming scarce in the seas about the western islands and Baranov was compelled to replenish his trade by the catch of the south eastern waters. He sent one of his ships as far south as the Queen Charlotte Islands and it visited Sitka on the way. 2,000 skins were secured by the hunters while on this voyage. In the same year Baranov himself paid Sitka a visit coming through the strait from the north in his little schooner Ulga a 40 foot boat and he named the passage for his craft as Ulga strait. In the port near his anchorage he erected a cross the bay he named Krestov Bay and he then selected the locality of his future settlement. In the spring of 1799 Baranov sent orders to the Toyans or chiefs of the tribes on the islands around Kodiak to assemble the hunters. 550 Bedarkas each manned by from two to three elute paddlers came in answer to his call and with two convoying ships he set sail for Sitka sound. On July 7th he landed at a bay six miles north of the present town of Sitka purchased attractive land from Skayutlat a local chief and began the construction of a post which he named Redaut St. Michael. The building was done under great difficulties and the main fell incessantly. There were but 30 Russian workmen as most of the elutes returned to Kodiak hunting as they went. Of the men who remained 10 had to stand guard constantly for the Tlingits were not to be trusted. Barracks, storehouses, quarters for the commanding officer were constructed a bath house also for the Russian must have his bath house stockade and strengthened by blockhouses. Their troubles were not all with the elements for during the winter the scarcity of provision and other causes brought scurvy to add to their discomfort. Their food was mostly yuhali dried salmon but during the winter the hunters took 40 sea lions and in the spring many seals were killed in the bay by the elutes. The natives called Tlingits at the present were known as the Kolosh by the Russians. They were divided amongst themselves and their feelings toward the new settlers in their mist. Some looked with extreme disfavor upon the establishment while others were friendly. The young and turbulent warriors were hostile. A messenger was sent to invite them to a Prasnik holiday at the fort. They were taken prisoner by them and detained until Baranov landed in their midst with an armed force and demanded his release when they set him free and ridiculed the incident. At a dance at the fort many of the Kolosh came with long knives concealed under their cloaks. Their treachery was detected and their design frustrated. The courage and caution of Baranov seemed to be moving when he departed for Kodiak leaving strict instructions as to the precautions to be observed during his absence. After his departure the discipline grew more lax and the Kolosh became more bold. The watchful savages at last saw an opportunity to rid themselves of their new neighbors. On a June day of 1802 the exact date is not recorded A horde of painted savages burst from the forest clad in all the paraphernalia of war masks and barbaric armor. A fleet of war canoes landed warriors on the beach in front of the redoubt. In the attack that followed the stockade and buildings were reduced to smoking ruins. The magazines were robbed of rich stores of furs. Most of the defenders died on the spears of the Kolosh but the torture till death relieved their sufferings and the women and children were made slaves. Skat Yutlit the false friend of Baranov directed the battle from a nearby knoll and his nephew Katlian was one of the principal actors in the bloody tragedy. A few survivors who were hunting in their bedarkas or were in the forest escaped to the ships of the English Captain Ebbots on an American ship and Captain Barber of the British ship Myrtle were in the harbor. Some of the survivors on reaching these ships asked them to rescue their countrymen. Captain Ebbots ransomed several prisoners but Captain Barber adopted a more effective course. Chief Katlian and Chief Skat Yutlit came on board his ship to trade. He at once put them in irons and threatened to hang them to the yardarm of the ship if the captives remaining in the hands of the natives and also the plundered sea otter skins were not immediately surrendered to him. The threat was effective. The greater part of the sea otter furs and several captives were brought on the ship and delivered to him. He then took the ransomed captives from the other ship and sailed for Kodiak where he demanded 10,000 rubles from Barinov for the captives. The ransom was later reduced to 10,000 rubles which was paid by Mr. Barinov. Two years passed before much is again known of Sitka. English and American captains sailed their ships into the harbor and gathered the furs which Barinov had endeavored to garner in the storehouses of the Russian American Company. In the summer of 1804 Barinov gathered a force at Kodiak with which to cross the Gulf of Alaska to re-establish his post. There were 150 bearded promichil nicks or fur hunters and over 500 alutes in their skin bidarkas. With him were the ships Alexander, Ekaterina, Yermak and Rostislav. When they reached Sitka they found there Captain Lyciansky of the Imperial Russian Navy with the ship Niva, one of the first Russians to circle the globe and who came to help to recapture the post. The Indian village of Sitka was almost in the same place as the present town grouped around the Barinov hill which was called by the Russians a kikur. On the top of the kikur was a redoubt and a stronger fort was near the mouth of the Indian river Kolosh Rayku. On the morning of September 28th the Russian ships moved to a point opposite the village the Niva being towed by a hundred bidarkas. The Sitkins abandoned their village and the fort on the hill and withdrew to the stronger fortification near the river. Barinov landed a force and occupied the kikur planted cannon on the top then opened negotiations for the surrender of the other fort but his overtures were rejected by the Indians. The ships were brought near the river fort and the cannon were trained on it. The fort was built of thick logs in the shape of an irregular square with portholes on the side near the sea and inside the breast works were fourteen barabaras or native houses. The walls were of such thickness not from the Niva made but little impression on the structure. Barinov was impatient and urged an attack. Reinforcements were landed from the ships under command of lieutenants Arbusov and Polyvician. The hunters, sailors and alutes flung themselves against the fortifications but meeting a murderous fire were driven back in disorder and only saved from disaster of the fire of the ships. Ten men were killed and twenty-six wounded and among the wounded was Barinov. Captain Lyciansky then took command and moved his ships nearer the shore. A canoe with reinforcements and a supply of powder for the Indians approached among the islands but a shot from the Niva struck it. The powder exploded and the Indians who were saved from the wreck were taken on board the Russian ship. The bombardment was steadily continued until the 6th of October when the Kolosh proposed to surrender and a parley was held but during the night they evacuated the fort and went over the mountains to the north. In the fort were left the bodies of thirty warriors and also the bodies of five children who had been killed to prevent their cries from the street known to the Russians. The only remaining survivors were two old women and a little boy. A few straggling warriors remained lurking about seeking revenge and a few days later they killed eight elutes who were fishing on Jamestown Bay. How the Kolosh went over the mountains was long a mystery to the Russians. They reached the shore of Peril Strait and north shore placed a fort near the entrance to Sitko Bay which was stronger than their old fort at Indian River and where over one thousand people gathered. A tradition among the old Indians says that the fugitives first went to Old Sitko then over the mountains to the north-eastern side of the island. On the way they suffered extremely from fatigue and hunger and one Sitko Indian who lives on Peril Strait relates that his father was a child at the time of the exodus. His father carried him till exhausted when he abandoned him and his mother then took him up and carried him the remainder of the way. The property left in the fort by the Kolosh was taken out, the fortification was burned and the canoes on the beach were broken to pieces. There was enough remaining of the structure and some of the remains of the foundation may yet be seen in the forest which has sprung up around it in the Indian River park although more than a century has since elapsed. Then began the restoration of the post on the present side of Sitko and with energy and dispatch the building of a new Russian settlement preceded. Around the Kikor the native houses were removed and along with them were the 200 burial houses with the ashes of the bodies which had been burned. The great tribal houses or Barabaras as they are called in the Russian accounts were spacious some measuring 50 feet in width and 80 feet in length. In their place rose the town of new archangel Novo Arkangelsk and on the Kikor was built a redoubt used by the Russians but the name Sitka was early used by them. Baranov frequently used the term Sitka in his letters and in the letter of the Minister of Finance to the Minister of Marine from St. Petersburg April 9, 1820 Sitka is used in several places. The name Sitka or Sitka in the Tlingit language means in this place that this is the place the best place implying superiority over all other places. All winter there was cutting of logs in the forest and by the spring of 1805 there were 8 substantial buildings the space for 15 kitchen gardens had been cleared the livestock brought on the ships were thriving and an air of prosperity pervaded the place. Surveys of the harbor who also made the first ascent of Mount Etchcom and who then sailed for Kronstadt, Russia by the way of Canton with a cargo of furs for the China trade valued at 450,000 rubles. End of Chapter 2 Chapter 3 of the story of Sitka by Clarence Leroy Andrews this LibriVox recording is in the public domain recording by Rita Butros Chapter 3 Progress of the Colony The courtly chamberlain of the Tsar Nicholas P. Rezenov son-in-law of Shelikov who was the founder of the first Russian colony in America came to Sitka in 1805 via Petropavlovsk, Siberia on the Nadeshta one of the first Russian ships to navigate the world and was the special representative of the Russian American company of which organization he was one of the founders. In his report to the company he tells us the fort is on the high hill or Kikor on a peninsula in the gulf on the left side of the Kikor close on the peninsula is built an immense barracks with two projecting blockhouses or towers and a mass timber from the top to the foundation under which is a cellar besides this building are two warehouses a material magazine and two cellars also two large sheds for storing food and under the sheds are the quarters for the workmen on the side opposite the fort is a shed for storing cargo at the right side are the quarters for the servants of the company clerks etc and on the shore are the blacksmith shops and other workshops on the top of the Kikor is a building five sajans long and three sajans wide with two rooms in one I live and in the other there are two shipmasters there are still some old Kolosh yurts in which live the Kayors and the Luts they are generally called our guns are always loaded everywhere are sentinels with loaded arms and in the rooms of each of us arms constitute the greater part of the furniture all the night the signals from post to post continue war discipline prevails in a word we are ready at any minute to receive our dear guests who generally profit by the darkness of night to make an attack the additional number in the garrison owing to the arrival of the chamberlain and his suite made it more difficult to procure provisions for the winter the hostile Kolosh made hunting and fishing dangerous in the autumn there was but flower enough for an allowance of a pound a week for one month for the two hundred men in the fort for other food supply there were dependent on the fish caught in the bay dried ukali and the sea lion meat from Kodiak and the dried seal meat from the seal islands baronoff bought the ship Juno an American sailing ship of about two hundred and fifty tons from captain George DeWolf of Bristol, Connecticut with its cargo of flour sugar and other articles for the sum of sixty-eight thousand piasters, Spanish equivalent to about the same number of dollars this relieved the immediate necessity but before spring the supply became so low that the scurvy that dread malady of the seas and of outlying localities attacked the garrison this scourge often fell heavily on the early Russian expeditions and in eighteen twenty-one the Russian ship Borodino lost forty men through its ravages in a voyage from Sitka to Kronstadt in March Resinoff sailed for San Francisco in the Juno to purchase bread stuffs and other supplies he also wished to examine the coast with the view of making other settlements farther south at Nutka at the Columbia or even farther south in California he secured a cargo of the products of the south and returned to Sitka in June on his southward journey Resinoff reconnoitered the mouth of the Columbia River seeking a site for a future settlement he was unable to enter the river owing to contrary winds and the condition of his crew, debilitated by lack of proper food and suffering from scurvy caused him to hasten on he heard that a party of U.S. soldiers were building a fort there this rumor doubtless came from the presence of Lewis and Clark near the present Astoria while on this visit to San Francisco Resinoff met the Spanish beauty Dona Concepción de Arguello of whom one of the visitors said she was lively and animated, had sparkling love inspiring eyes beautiful teeth, pleasing and expressive features a fine form and a thousand other charms and he lost his heart to her the romance of the Russian courtier and the fair Californian furnished to Bret Hart the theme for some of his most beautiful verse Resinoff, hurrying home to Russia to gain the imperial permission to his marriage died at Krasnoyarsk, Siberia and Dona Concepción waited for years for the coming of her lover not knowing that he lay dead under the Siberian snows when the news of his sad fate came to her, she dawned the habit of a nun and devoted herself to charitable works this visit to California was the beginning of a trade that continued for many years through all the period of Russian occupation during the days of the gold discoveries in California large shipments of goods were made from Sitka to San Francisco and after the sale of the territory of the United States, great quantities of merchandise were shipped from the warehouses of the company to the California Metropolis amounting to over a quarter of a million dollars in one year the breadstuffs for the colonies were procured from California from San Francisco and from Ross Colony or from Peru until 1840 when a contract was made with the Hudson's Bay Company which the supplies were brought from the farms of the Nisqually or from Vancouver in Oregon Territory until the time of the arrival of the Niva 1804 all trading goods were brought across Siberia to Ocosk and then by sailing vessel to the colony or were purchased from the American or English trading ships which came to the coast for furs to the natives, the English who came to these waters became known as King George Men and the Americans were called Boston Men the latter being from the great number of ships that sailed from the great shipping port of New England from these traders goods were purchased by Baranov at lower rates than those cost which were brought from Russia John Jacob Astor was one of the first to engage in the trade he sent the ship Enterprise to Sitka in 1810 and the beaver in 1812 from Washington Irving we have the description through the account of the captain of the hyperborian veteran ensconced in a fort which crested the top of a high rock promontory which is well known to all readers of stories of western life and in which the impression of the character of Baranov even to the reader is very erroneous the traders exchanged their goods with the Russians for furs sometimes going to the Pribilov Islands to receive the seal skins sailed to China where the furs were traded for silks nankins and tees they then voyaged on around the world to their home port the sloop of war Diana the first Russian warship to reach Sitka arrived in 1810 under the command of captain Vasili M. Golovnin who was widely known for his adventures while a captive in the kingdom of the Nipponese where he was carried about in a bamboo cage and exhibited to the populace his description of his visit to Sitka is entertaining and of it he says in the fort we met nothing so unusual or costly as to be worthy of special remark the fort consisted of solid log towers and high strong palisades with apertures or embrasures in which were set guns and caronades of different calibers the interior construction barracks, storehouses house of the commander and other buildings were made of thick logs and were very solid these being very common in this place around which space grows so to say within reach of a windlass a multitude of most beautiful trees suitable for structures of every description in the house of Mr. Baranov were ornaments and furniture and profusion of masterly workmanship and costly price brought from St. Petersburg and from England which corresponded with his position as the head official of a great company what astonished us most was an extensive library in nearly all European languages and many pictures of remarkable merit I must confess that I badly judge in painting and only could know that in the uncultivated wild border of America there would be none except Mr. Baranov to value and understand them unless there might happen to be educated travelers or masters of United States visiting vessels visiting this place there would be no one to appreciate the fine art Mr. Baranov noting my astonishment explained the riddle saying that the pictures attracting our attention were gifts of the company and of distinguished persons in St. Petersburg for the establishing of a library and the directory sent them out on these works he commented with the following remarkable view that our directors had sent us a doctor for in all the company's colonies there is not one doctor nor one doctor's assistant nor one doctor's pupil Golovnin soon left Sitka to return to St. Petersburg his successful voyage together with that of the Neva and the Nadezhda encouraged the shipment of goods by sea from Russia and from that time onwards laterally laden with supplies of every kind for the post and returned with rich cargos of peltry by 1825 surgical and astronomical instruments of the best quality were sent to the colony an apothecary shop of three rooms provided medicines and four Creole boys under the charge of a doctor attended to the dispensing of the potions a hospital was in connection and the sick received fresh food tea sugar and medicines free upon the order of the doctor an observatory equipped with the most improved magnetic and meteorological instruments was later provided and there was kept a record of natural phenomena while a museum of objects of interest from the surrounding country was open for the instruction of all the library was brought from St. Petersburg in 1806 by Resanov Mr. Klebnikov tells us that it contained more than 1200 volumes valued at 7500 rubles and they were in the Russian French German, English, Latin and other languages when Mr. Resanov was preparing for his journey he addressed letters to many of the leading men of St. Petersburg soliciting their contribution of books to promote the beginning of education in the far-off possession of the Tsar many sent a response in writing accompanied by one or more volumes and the letters so sent were richly bound in a separate volume and placed with the library in the building at Sitka among the patrons were the metropolis d'Ambrosia Count Rumiantsov Count Stroganov Admiral Chikagov Minister of Justice Dmitriev Senator Zakharov and others the sentiments were varied but many agreed in voicing the desire to sow the seed of science in the breasts of the peoples so far outlying from the enlightenment of Europe some of them reflected the personal character of the donors the metropolis d'Ambrosia sent books for church services the minister of marine sent plans of ships and Count Rumiantsov contributed works on husbandry Mr. Kiril Klebnikov the accountant of the company who was in charge of the Counting House at Sitka from 1818 to 1832 to whom we are indebted for many valuable writings relating to the early history of the settlements that when Mr. Baranov left the colony the buildings had become badly decayed and much new construction had to be done in 1827 there had been built three sentry houses a battery of 30 guns on the kikur and below them magazines, barracks and other buildings a bakery, wharf, arsenal etc. in the shops were blacksmiths locksmiths, coopers turners, rope spinners chandlers, painters masons, etc. at the Ozarskoe redoubt on deep lake were barracks and a fort a flowering mill a tannery and other buildings a zepur or fish trap in the stream took 60,000 fish each year the workmen got out timber from the forest for the building of ships they cut fuel and burned charcoal in large quantities kept the buildings in repair and did other duties required on the factory the work of the gardening was chiefly done by the eluts who were paid a rubolo day for their services the Russian captain Lutke came to Sitka about this time and he tells us that there were many pigs and chickens raised by the inhabitants and that a pig might be had for five to seven rubles a hen for four to five rubles and eggs at from three and a half to ten rubles per dozen the chief drawback to the chicken industry was the presence of the great black ravens that carried away the young chicks and sometimes even the old hens the ravens were such successful scavengers that they were called the new archangel police and he says they even bit the tails off the young pigs so that all the hogs of the place were tailless he mentions the abundance of deer on the islands and also says that mountain sheep were killed by the eluts and brought to the fort he must have confused the sheep with the goats for the sheep never approached the coast so closely and he speaks of the wool being used for weaving the blankets of the colonial dances of the collage this would indicate that the animal in question was the mountain goat a later writer says that 2700 game animals were brought into Sitka for sale during the winter of 1861 to 1862 a shipyard was established as soon as the necessary buildings to house the garrison were completed it occupied a part of the present parade ground near the Russian barracks and included a portion of the present street many vessels were built in the yard during the Russian occupation the first being the tender avos launched in 1806 followed by the brig Sitka built by an American shipbuilder named Lincoln and for which he was paid 2000 rubles as a royalty upon the completion of the ship a frigate of 320 tons was the largest vessel built before 1819 and at that time construction was discontinued until 1834 when work was resumed and continued until the close of the Russian regime the Polatovsky was one of the last vessels to be built at Sitka and it was sold by Prince Maxutov to H.M. Hutchinson and Abraham Hersch for 4000 dollars in 1867 the next year it was sold to Hutchinson, Cole and Company and later was sold to a firm that ran it to Puget Sound and from Alaska to San Francisco it was built of Alaska Cedar Timber the Dushnoy Derevan or scented wood of the Russians and was spiked with made copper spikes it was taken to Alaska in the gold rush of 1898 and found its last resting place very appropriately in the land where it was built in the harbor of St. Michael the old Russian port on Bering Sea the fear of shipwreck and of death at sea hung over every soul of the community the long voyages in uncharted waters with sailing ships more than six months at the shortest from Kronstadt often three months or more against baffling winds from Okhotsk the voyages to the redoubts and Odinoshkas detached posts with one man only of the Bering Sea and of the Gulf of Alaska to collect the fur catch of the year and bring it to Sitka the long journey via Shantan on the return to Russia all held many dangers for the sailing ships of those days the phoenix the first ship built on the Alaskan shores foundered with all on board including the bishop and his retinue in 1799 on the return voyage from Okhotsk the St. Nicholas went ashore on the coast of Washington in 1808 and those who survived the waves were held in bondage for years by the savages of that coast during the latter part of August 1812 the ship Neva left Okhotsk contrary winds delayed her in the sea of Okhotsk storms beat her back along the Aleutian islands till it was November before land was sighted in Alaska the storms damaged the rigging and ship until it was necessary to put into Alaskansky harbor Resurrection Bay for repairs she arrived off Sitka about December 1 after four or five days Mount Etchcom was sighted but a storm drove the ship to sea where she beat about for weeks before again nearing the port scurvy afflicted the passengers and crew and added to the general distress on January 8th 1813 Etchcom again appeared in trying to make the harbor the ship grounded on the rocks under the cape on the morning of the 9th and speedily broke to pieces under the terrific pounding of the seas some of the people on board reached shore after incredible suffering and hardship after several days two of the sailors wandering along the shore met a colosh boy and persuaded him to take them to Sitka where they arrived cold, exhausted and almost starving boats were at once fitted out by Mr. Baranov the survivors were rescued brought to Sitka and their sufferings relieved from those on board the ship 38 had perished including Kalinin the commander Borano Volokov the intended future chief manager of the company in the cargo was food and clothing the messages of the year for the exiles and rich vestments and furnishings for the church that was soon to be built in Sitka all scattered for miles along the wild coast of Khrusov Island this was one of the worst disasters of the sea that visited the colony although many others are part of the records of the time it is said that chief Katlian tore his spear with rage when he learned of the wreck because he did not find it and destroyed the survivors out of revenge for his defeat and expulsion from his home at Sitka there are many traditions among the residents of Sitka concerning the wreck of the Neva among them is that there was a vast treasure of gold for the use of the garrison and the traders this is erroneous for there was no gold used in the colonies the trade being by barter or conducted with script called asignats issued by the company for the purpose the story of the gold has been so generally believed that serious plans have been made for attempting the salvage of the treasure the term of office of Alexander Andreevich Baranov as the chief manager of the Russian American Company came to a close in 1818 he had been 28 years in the colonies leaving Russia in 1790 for the post of three saints on Kodiak Island which at that time constituted almost the only Russian establishment in America the other stations being little more than outlying trading posts he left their dominion and empire in extent reaching from the seal islands in Bering Sea to the edge of the ice pack of the Arctic to Fort Ross among the sunny hills of golden California Captain Hagmeister came to relieve him and in his 72nd year the old chief manager bent with the weight of years and of long and arduous service closed his accounts and set sail on the Cutosov one of the company's vessels for his far off home in Russia when the time arrived for Baranov to take his departure from the land he had made his home for so many years sorrowfully he took his leave of the associates with whom he had so long shared the dangers and hardships of the uncivilized land upon being relieved of the duties of his office he first considered building a home at the Ozarskoe Redoubt and spending the remainder of his days in the place he had learned to love later he decided to return to his native land and sailed on the Cutosov for Kronstadt a delay at Batavia in the tropics proved too severe for his advanced years the day after leaving Batavia he died and was buried at sea in the waters of the Indian Ocean Captain Lyantius Andrianovich Hagmeister succeeded to the office of chief manager but remained only a short time at Sitka then sailed for Russia leaving Captain Simeon Ivanovich Yanovsky in charge Captain Yanovsky became enamored with the beautiful daughter of Baranov and if you search the old records of the cathedral of St. Michael's at Sitka you will find the entry as made of the marriage of Simeon Ivanov Yanovsky with the late head governor of the Russian American Possessions colonizer and Cavalier Baranov's daughter Irina one of Creoles in 1830 Baron Ferdinand Petrovich Rangel scientist and explorer came to administer the office he had sailed the frozen ocean along the northern shores of Siberia as an explorer and Rangel Island Rangel Strait etc on the maps of today perpetuate his name under Baron Rangel as assistant to the manager served Adolf Karlovich Etolin a native of Finland who came to the colony as an officer on the war sloop Kampchatka in 1817 who sailed in the service of the company to nearly every port from the seal islands of Bering Sea to Chile who made several voyages around the world and who was made chief manager in 1840 in 1846 he returned to Russia to accept the trust of commercial counselor in the head office of the company in St. Petersburg about 14 miles to the southwest across the bay and facing Edgecombe with a beautiful view of the peak and islands is the hot springs well known for their medicinal properties by the natives and the advent of the Russians and frequently resorted to by both as a panacea for many ills in the place of islands Chasti Ostrova is reputed to be a spring with a sour taste while almost within the limits of the town of Sitka Dr. Scheffer a German physician who made a sojourn in the place about 1815 claimed to have found a medical spring whose waters were equal to some of the famed watering places of Germany End of Chapter 3 Chapter 4 of the story of Sitka by Clarence Leroy Andrews this LibriVox recording is in the public domain recording by Rita Butros Chapter 4 Natives most of the Sitkin Kolosh kept aloof from the Russian settlement after the establishment of the new fort on Chatham Strait near the entrance of Peril Strait all the Kvans the Kutsnus the Hunas the Chilkats the Aux, Stickinis Khakis and others joined with the Sitkas in the hatred of the Russians parties going out from the fort at Sitka for hunting expeditions for cutting of wood and with arms at hand prepare to fight at a moment's notice small groups were often cut off and murdered as it was impossible to decide which of the many Kvans did the act and as there were those in each Kvans who were peaceable with whom it was desired to keep the peace revenge against any village was inadvisable even as late as the date of the lease to the Hudson's Bay Company the Russian ships that sailed among the islands to trade with the Kolosh were compelled to act with the strictest caution only a few natives were admitted on board at a time the trading was done in a space near the stern and was conducted under the muzzles of loaded cannon concealed in the four part of the ship the conditions were thus until 1821 when the Sitkas were invited to re-occupy the site of the old village and to live in what is now known as the ranch under the guns of the redoubt the Tlingit Nation is a strange war-like shrewd people physically strong and enduring and possessed of many excellent qualities hunters and fishermen by nature and training they are skillful boatmen and in those days they built wonderfully beautiful canoes some of them large enough to carry 60 men at the paddles each spring more than a thousand men gathered together in Sitka Bay coming from the different villages to fish for herring at the spawning time when those fish run in countless myriads in those waters hemlock bells were placed in the water and on them the herring-row collected until they were encrusted with the eggs which were then stripped off and dried for future use in 1807 there were over 2,000 hostile natives gathered in the harbor at the herring season and they threatened an attack on the settlement Kuskov the most trusted and able lieutenant of Baranov was in charge and it put his wisdom and watchfulness to the test to avert disaster the strictest discipline was maintained the tribesmen waited outside day after day hoping for news of some relaxation of the precautions of the defenders to be brought to them by the women of the tribe who were married to the Russian Promyshlaniki hunters day and night the sentinels paced the beets on the stockade and along the waterfront till weary of waiting homes in the great tribal houses several families lived sometimes as many as 50 or 60 persons over the door of the house was painted the family totem for the sitkas did not raise the house totem in a pole in front as did many of the quans of the Tlingits and as the Haidas do in these houses were held the potlatches or gift parties which were made gifts the potlatches were of different kinds although all partook of the nature of a feasting or merry making and were distinguished by the giving of gifts in the ordinary visiting potlatches or in the berry potlatches the visitors came in their canoes with which they formed a line offshore opposite the houses put planks from one canoe to another and on these planks dance tribal dance those on shore dance the welcome dance and invited the guests ashore then the visitors disembarked and each family became the guest of their kinsmen of their totem or they went to the guest house of the quan all the people of the same totem are supposed to be blood relations so all those of the wolf totem go to the gucci or the dwelling blazoned by the rude heraldry the wolf rampant in the great social potlashes a wealthy chief invites his friends from many villages and entertains them for a week or more with dancing and feasting and makes presents varied and valuable from Hudson's Bay blankets to bolts of calico or a flannel and in primitive days copper toes, chill cat blankets and even slaves were handed over with a lavish brutality on special occasions in the olden time with great ceremony the visitors landed at a distance from the village drew their canoes ashore and proceeded to the village dressed in festive garments adorned with sea lion heads or other strange headdresses in which they danced the rare and picturesque beach dance in acknowledgement to the spirit of the sea for the bountiful supply of salmon and herring of the past season for the Native American it is a thankful being and omits not to show it when occasion offers to acknowledge it to the giver of all good and perfect gifts during the earlier years of the colony the colosh were implacable enemies war parties of young men constantly haunted the islands of the bay lying in wait of a merry hunter or fisherman from the fort later when they were settled under the walls of the fort they became more tractable for their homes and families were commanded by the guns of the fortress but on the least provocation the savagery and their blood would boil from their great tribal houses they issued forth faces blackened to the semblance of devils war masks grinning and a howling mob of lions at their neighbor over the stockade many a bloody tragedy was enacted in the ranch for their code was primitive an eye for an eye and a life for a life feuds raged between the different totemic families about 1853 a party of rangel Indians stickiness visited sitka and while being entertained in the guest house were murdered their bodies piled into a canoe which was then paddled to japan ski island on striking the shore it was so heavily laden with the bodies of the dead that tradition says the canoe split from end to end it is said that the bones of the dead are still to be seen in the undergrowth along the shore in retaliation about 1855 the rangel kolosh made an outspring settlement burned the buildings stripped the inhabitants of property and clothing and left them to make their way over the mountains around the head of silver bay to sitka where they arrived more dead than alive from hunger and exhaustion this feud was not settled until 1918 when a peace treaty was consummated between the quans on armistice day which is much made of by the tribesmen the kolosh were as firm believers in witchcraft as any of the more civilized nations they resorted to their shamans ex or medicine men in case of illness if his weird incantations failed to relieve the sufferer his resort was that the victim was bewitched and some poor unfortunate paid the penalty by enduring the most fiendish torture one march day in 1855 a commotion arose in the kolosh village a sentry caught an indian who was stealing and punished him for which the tribe called for vengeance some rushed to the stockade and began to cut away the palisades others forced their way into the koloshian church through the outer door from this vantage point they fired on the garrison in turn the batteries of the fort blazed back with solid shot and shrapnel for two hours the fight continued when the kolosh gave up all hope of success and ceased the battle the russian loss in killed and wounded was 20 men while the kolosh loss was estimated at 60 this was the last attempt of the natives to destroy the russian stronghold at times during the latter days of the colony the kolosh were employed as seamen and as workers in the ice trade by the russians and thus they occupied a place in the industrial life etulin was the most successful in conciliating them of any of the chief managers and he at one time held a fur fair at zitka to which peltry was brought from far and near of the great fur mart of nichny novgorod most of them however hunted and fished lived in their tribal houses carved their canoes wove their baskets and practiced their witchcraft while their civilized neighbors gathered the furs and built ships under the walls of the fort in the old tribal houses of the kolosh which had not been destroyed lived the aluts properly speaking the name belongs to the natives of the alutian islands but the term was also applied to the natives of kodiak island and the surrounding islets these speak a different language from the true aluts but otherwise resemble them closely during the hunting season they scoured the seas in their skin bidarkas in the pursuit of fur animals in winter many of them remained instead of returning to their homes their time was spent in idleness spending the summers earnings in the pleasures and vices of the white man one who saw them in their chasms as their dwellings were often called describes them morally the alut is not bloodthirsty he delights in simple rejoicings and will play you a game of chess with walrus ivory pieces a duck for a pawn for a king with the greatest of good humor even when squabbles arrive the argument is carried on in poetry to the accompaniment of dancing and one would be inclined to prefer the alut angry to the alut amiable did he not know he also dances when festive and when religious among them the social duty of visiting has its drawbacks several families live together in their chasms and during one's visit they all lie around in every conceivable posture jolly and genial naked and unashamed the fumes of the blubber oil lamps and stoves the stores of raw meat the many naked bodies well smeared with grease and scented with primitive unguents combine to make an atmosphere difficult to tolerate if you will you may enjoy the warmest hospitality and have heaped upon you the most assiduous attentions End of Chapter 4 Chapter 5 of the Story of Sitka by Clarence Leroy Andrews this LibriVox recording is in the public domain recording by Rita Butros Chapter 5 Churches and Schools It was not until 1816 that a priest arrived at Sitka and in that year the first entry is made in the church records under the name of Alexander Sokolov a church was built at the south of the street which was then called the Governor's Walk almost opposite the present cathedral a monument marks the spot where the altar stood and a cross marks the site of a grave said by a local priest tradition also tells that there are two graves there and assigns the other one to the daughter of Baron Rangel the chief manager of the company at one time the present cathedral of Saint Michael which is the central point of historic interest in the center of the town at Lincoln street was dedicated November 20th 1848 it fronts on a small court with a painted spire surmounted by the Greek cross is so typically Russian that it might readily be believed to have been transplanted from old Russia the chime of bells a gift from the church at Moscow would be worthy of any shrine the building is in the form of a cross has three sanctuaries and three altars the larger and central sanctuary is that of the Archistratigos Michael in the center is an elevated platform the Episcopal Cathedral and it is separated from the main body of the church by a partition called the iconastas which is ornamented with 12 icons or holy paintings covered by plates of silver in repousse work in the true Russian style of art and through the royal gates the priest appears the silver in the icons is valued at over $6,000 the icon of Saint Michael is said to have been in the wreck of the Neva and was rescued after being cast up by the sea another is a gift of the monks of the monastery of Solovetsk another was brought by bishop Innocentius, Veniaminov from Petropevlovsk the icon of the resurrection is painted on a board from a tree in Hebron was consecrated in Bethlehem the iconograph signature of the patriarch of Jerusalem the chapel at the right is dedicated in the name of Saint John the precursor and Prince Alexander Nevsky the chapel at the left is in honor of Our Lady of Kazan in it is a painting of a Madonna and Child from which the beautiful Byzantine face looks down with a sweet radiance the vestments and sacred vessels are rich and elegant the white Easter vestment is of cloth of silver and the cloth of gold for high feast stays was the personal gift of Alexander Andreevich Baranov the great Russian who established the colony the belfry clock is said to be the work of the hands of Veniaminov the priest and richly brocaded vestments holds the services and a choir of boys chant the chorus with a melody that would be the envy of one more pretentious edifice the worshippers stand during the services the clouds of incense rise toward the rounded dome then one by one the worshippers pass and kiss the jeweled cross in the hand of the priest Father Metropolsky presided over the church for many years and Father Sergius is one of the best known in recent years there were two other churches during Russian days the Lutheran built during Etelon's time which stood near the site of the first church and is said to have contained a small but very excellent pipe organ brought from Germany the other church stood near the blockhouse on the hill was on the line of the stockade and had two doors one inside the fortification the other outside and used as an entrance by the natives it was known as the Colossian church and its site is marked by a monument both these buildings long ago fell into ruin and were removed the Russian religion was closely associated with the government so in the colonies the official charter of the company compelled them to provide well for the church and the priests according to the standard of the times and the work was carried on with zeal and fortitude by the missionaries who came from the monasteries of the old Russian cities of all the missionaries who came to Russian America the greatest was Ivan Veniaminov father John he is often called in the old records a wonderful man broad of mind and of body combining the qualities that inspire awe and reverence with a gentleness of word and deed that made him beloved wherever he was known or letters are among the best authorities extent which remain from those years on Alaskan matters and they were written home to Russia during his stay in the Aleutian islands and at Sitka he came to Sitka after a ten year stay at UN Alaska remained there for five years working for the church and teaching in the schools then returned to Moscow the schools of the new diocese he again arrived in Sitka in 1842 and made a tour of all the churches in the colonies traveling by sailing ship to every settlement then went home to Russia where he became metropolis of Moscow the schools of Sitka under the Russian regime were well maintained and many of the mechanics were educated there Kadin who drew the charts for Tebenkov's Atlas of Alaska from the surveys made by the Russian navigators Tarantyev who engraved the maps on copper plate at Sitka and many of the ship masters and accountants in the employee of the company were the product of the educational institutions of Sitka in the time of the greatest prosperity there were five schools the church school was advanced to the grade of a seminary in 1849 and there were taught navigation, mathematics astronomy, bookkeeping and other branches of learning some of the best pupils both Russian and Creole were sent to St. Petersburg for more advanced instruction chief manager Etelin was the special patron of education and made many improvements in the system the auspices of Madame Etelin who was a native of Helsingfors and was educated in the schools of that city a school was opened and maintained by the company for the girls of the colony after the transfer to the United States of the territory the teachers returned to Russia and the schools were closed End of Chapter 5 Chapter 6 of the story of Sitka by Clarence Leroy Andrews this LibriVox recording is in the public domain recording by Rita Butros Chapter 6 Social Life at the top of the Kikor or the Baranov Hill as it was called in recent years there stood a building occupied during Russian days as a residence by the chief managers of the Russian American company the one known to the residents and visitors of the earlier days of the American occupation was known as the Baranov Castle although Baranov himself never lived in it there were three, if not four different buildings which occupied that position the first to be placed there was built at once upon the founding of the post and is described by Resenov in his letters to the company as being a very unpretentious building and poorly constructed before the close of Baranov's administration however according to the account of Captain Golovnin it was an establishment well built and furnished with some degree of luxury the structure known as the Baranov Castle which stood on the hill at the time of the transfer to the United States would seem to be the third building was completed about 1837 and was burned to the ground on the morning of March 17, 1894 the historic building was the scene of many interesting events and sheltered many distinguished persons the first mistress who presided over the mansion on the Kikur was Madame Yanovsky a daughter of Baranov and the wife of Lieutenant Yanovsky the chief manager of the Russian American Company Lady Rangel was the first to come from Russia to preside as the first lady of Sitka and she was succeeded by Madame Kupryanov who was said to have crossed Siberia and the Pacific Ocean to accompany her husband to his post Sir Edward Belcher gives a spirited account of a ball given in his honor which was then in 1837 just completed he says the evening passed most delightfully although few could converse with their partners English being spoken by few at that time in the capital of Russian America Princess Maxutov the wife of the last chief manager of the colonies came from St. Petersburg but died soon after her arrival and the stone which marks her grave may be seen on the hill between the two cemeteries near the site of the upper block house her successor the second Princess Maxutov young and beautiful presided with grace and tact over the mansion until the transfer of the territory to the United States she was one of six Russian ladies present at the ceremonies and is said to have wept the flag was lowered there is a legend of a beautiful princess whose ghost haunted the castle for many years the story has been told by many at different times and is one of the romantic tales that cluster around the old metropolis of the fur trading days her lover was sent away or killed through the influence of an Ober officer who sought her hand in marriage Eliza Ruhamas Skidmore who wrote so delightfully of Sitka in her journeys in Alaska in 1883 says that by tradition the lady in black was the daughter of one of the old governors on her wedding night she disappeared from the ballroom in the midst of the festivities and after a long search was found dead in one of the small drawing rooms the chief managers entertained lavishly and the dinners in the castle were events long to be remembered they were well worthy the representatives of a rich and powerful company a corporation with a domain that was greater than the realm of many a royal ruler into the sumptuously furnished and richly decorated dining room came the bishop and priest resplendent in the official robes the naval officers glittering the old laced uniforms the secretaries accountants storekeepers all in the uniform of the ministry of finance the masters and mates of the ships in the harbor the guests in their best apparel all gathered around the hospitable board of the chief manager at times a hundred sat at the table and back of them dined the cadets of the naval school dancing and until morning the gaiety went merrily on for Russian cheer is proverbial and their hospitality is lavish usually the captain of the port the secretaries three public and two private two masters in the navy the commercial agent two doctors and the Lutheran clergyman dined with the chief manager by general invitation tells us the civilian masters of vessels accountants, engineers, clerks and bookkeepers dined at a club which was organized by Mr. Etelin and they lived at the old clubhouse a little to the east of the church a wedding was an elaborate affair a bridal cake which figured in many mystic signs tea, coffee, chocolate and champagne ladies attired in muslin dresses white satin shoes silk stockings kid gloves, fans and other necessary apperances after the ceremony of an hour and a half was consummated the ball was opened by the bride and the highest officer present and the dancing lasted until three in the morning Easter was an event of much hilarity after the close of Lent was fully observed by all from morning to night everyone ran a gauntlet of kisses when two persons met one said, Christ has risen while the other replied he has risen indeed and then followed the salutations these seemed not to have been distasteful to visitors although one remarks that most of the dames had been more liberal with other liquids than of pure water throughout it all was a continuous peel of bells for the Russian is fond of bell ringing all carried eggs boiled into stones and dyed, gilded or painted which they presented to their friends End of Chapter 6 Chapter 7 of the story of Sitka by Clarence Leroy Andrews this LibriVox recording is in the public domain recording by Rita Butros Chapter 7 Trade and Industry Sitka under the Muscovite existed because of the fur trade and every energy and interest centered on the gathering of peltries from every available quarter sailing ships moved in and out of the harbor taken to their moorings or out to sea by the harbor tug some from Mikhailovsk with the beaver and martin others en route to California or to the Sandwich Islands the supply ships from Kronstadt around Cape Horn or returning via Canton and the Cape of Good Hope laden with furs still others bound for the Curell Islands or Ocosk the steamer Nikolai plied along the passages of the Alexander Archipelago exploring the inlets surveying the bays and rivers clearing furs always furs for that was the reason for their living on this distant shore near the entrance to the Kolosh village was the market where the natives were permitted to trade there they brought their game and fish their furs and baskets to trade for calico and beads blankets and ammunition this market was closed by a portcullis door which permitted entrance through the stockaded and was enclosed by a railed yard armed guards stood on duty and at the least dispute in the market down came the door and they proceeded to punish the delinquents the warehouses were stored with thousands on thousands of the richest furs of the northland sea otter worth today from 800 to 1000 dollars per skin and not to be had at any price were numbered by thousands in the earlier years seal skins by ship loads some killed off the harbour but mainly from the seal islands of land otter the hutsons bay company paid them 2000 skins each year for the lease of the territory from portland canal to cape spencer the martin the americans sable with its fluffy pelage foxes blue white black silver gray red and cross were there by thousands brought from the Arctic from the elution islands from the valley of the Yukon mink, ermine, muskrat beaver, land otter pile on pile tons of ivory from the walrus herds of morsovia and bear skins and wolf skins from cook inlet and the copper river the right to the fur trade belonged exclusively to the company by royal UK's and to any employee who is found attempting to infringe on their rights was arrested and sent to Russia for punishment from the top of the castle over 100 feet above the sea a light burned as a beacon to mariners entering the harbour and this was the first lighthouse to throw its beams over the waters of this northern ocean in the coppola which rose from the roof were four little square cups into which seal oil was poured and wicks burned in grooves rising from them while back of the flame was a reflector that threw the light far out to sea among the islands the stock of goods in the magazines was large and varied it covered almost every article carried in the general European trade as a necessity and many of the luxuries sugar and sealing wax tobacco both Virginia and Kirkus silk and broadcloth calico and Flemish linen ravens, duck and freeze artians of blankets and poods of yarn vidras of rum cognac and gin butter from the Yakut from California and from Kodiak salt beef from Ross Colony and from Kodiak beaver hats and cotton socks in the arsenal were kept about a thousand muskets 300 pistols 200 rifles as well as sabers cutlasses etc while four fire engines provided against loss by conflagration some rare weapons were also found there a sabre set with gems valued at 560 rubles Persian carbine of a value of 450 rubles two Persian Yatagans silver mounted a Damascus sabre and two Persian pistols silver mounted the soldiers guns were for a great part of French or English workmanship rockets and false fire for signaling ships were made each year tallow for candles was brought from California to the port and distributed so many candles to each employee according to their presumed needs each month liquors generally rum were served by the company a drink twice a week extra allowance being made on difficult work and also for holidays all kinds of devices were resorted to by individuals in order to get rum and one author says that a pair of boots for which the makers and 10 rubles might be secured in barter for a bottle of rum worth 3 rubles the soldiers stationed at the fort when not on duty were employed by the company and given a special compensation for their labor some of the soldiers and hunters by their industry and thrift accumulated considerable money which the company held to their account and either paid to them on their discharge or returned to Russia for them others spent their earnings were continually in debt to the company and as their contract provided that they were not to be discharged while in arrears of debt some of them served the remainder of their lives with no hope of return to Russia around the hill ran a parapet and sentries walked their beat night and day on the stockade which enclosed the town from the beach at the edge of the ranch to the shore beyond the sawmill making with the shoreline an irregular rectangle also walked the sentinels on their vigil for the tlingit at the gates was at all times an enemy to be feared strict military discipline was maintained at all times at the foot of the hill were clustered barracks storehouses, bakeries warehouses etc the use of the garrison and workmen the old structure which was used as a bakery and for shops was later known as the Sitka trading company's building and has recently been removed the barracks are at present the jail and the Russian counting house is today the post office of the united states the fur warehouse stood to the west of the hill and was torn down in 1897 to 98 while the landing warehouse on the wharf was burned in 1916 these were all built about the time of the incumbency of Edelin and that time might be termed the golden age of the colony ships were being built the fur trade was still prosperous new explorations were being made into the interior of the country trade was being extended into the Yukon Valley and there was an active interest in all the industries of the settlement there were men of many trades engineers, cabinet makers jewelers, tailors builders etc and an efficient machine shop constructed engines to equip the vessels constructed in the shipyard plowshares and spades for the Spanish farmers in California were forged shells for the Franciscan missions were cast here the first steam vessel to be built on the shore of the north pacific ocean was constructed at Sitka for before 1840 the whole of the machinery for a tug of seven horsepower as well as of two pleasure boats had been constructed here the steamer Nikolai of 70 horsepower was built and equipped for the production of the boilers which were brought from New York the shipways at Sitka was the repairing place for many a vessel in the days of the gold seekers in the valleys of California two saw mills one near the site of the present mill the other on Karenski river now called Sawmill Creek cut the lumber for the settlement and for export two flowering mills at the Osersco redoubt on Globaco deep lake ground the breadstuffs a tannery furnished the leather foreshoes made from California hides and also prepared the lav tax for the bidarkas for the seal and sea otter hunters the burrs for the Sitka mill were of the finest French stone but those at the redoubt were cut from the granite found on the lakeshore a hospital 40 beds provided for the comfort of the sick of which Governor Simpson said the institution in question would do no disgrace to England brickyards were maintained ice was cut on the lake and at times shipped to California the ice houses were near the outlet of Swan Lake and were of a capacity of 3,000 tons one day in the spring of 1852 the American ship Bacchus came into Sitka to purchase a cargo of ice all the ice for San Francisco had to this time been brought in the hold of sailing ships around Cape Horn from Boston and the idea of getting the supply from Sitka was conceived from the company's ice houses was laden on the ship 250 tons and this was the beginning of a trade during the year not less than 1,800 tons at an average price of about $25 per ton a company was organized in San Francisco for carrying on the trade and it was known as the ice company the ice on the lake was not of sufficient thickness owing to the fact that 4 degrees below zero is the coldest record ever made in Sitka during 100 years consequently the ice company later transferred their chief place of operation to Wood Island near Kodiak cows were kept for milk and the hay for their provender was cut on the Katliansky Plains on Squashansky Bay Sir George Simpson governor and chief of the honorable the Hudson's Bay Company visited Sitka in 1841 and in 1842 he describes the settlement, the natives and the fur trade and was entertained at the castle by chief manager Etalyn during his stay he indulged in a Russian steam bath his humorous description of the details ends with a promise never again to undergo such a castigation the account of his stay at the hot springs is enlivened by a story of how a rosy cheeked Russian damsel each time she passed his chair made a profound obisience which he attributed to his personal attraction until he discovered her doing the same when the chair was empty and then saw that a saintly icon occupied a place on the wall directly over it which dispelled the illusion thirteen ships were in the harbor and he remarks that the bustle was sufficient to have done credit to a third great port in the civilized world Sir George sailed for Akkosk on the Russian ship Alexander then crossed Siberia overland on his return to England from a journey round the earth there were eighty cannon mounted in the batteries which commanded the bay or which looked down on the Kolosh village these cannon were of different make some being cast in Sitka others purchased of English or Americans which were purchased on the ships on which they were mounted as on the Juno and the Brutus and other ordinance was brought from Kronstadt Russia as in 1804 on the Neva and in 1820 on the Borodino tea houses were situated on the little knoll in the center of the town where the public gardens were located and the library offered instruction to the workers who occupied this lonely post halfway round the world from the Russian Fatherland there were fourteen chief managers who directed the affairs of the company at Sitka between the date of the founding in 1804 and the surrender to the United States in 1867 many of the officers resided long in the colonies and their record would establish to be denominated as sour-dose Baranov was manager 28 years Zaremba was rewarded in 1844 for 25 years service Krukov the manager at UN Alaska was rewarded in 1821 for 40 years service Banner remained at Kodiak for at least 10 years and he and his wife both died there while Kuzkov came with Baranov in 1790 and returned to Russia in 1821 End of chapter 7